Link 87

Link

No. 87 October 2014

Rotary District 1270 Yorkshire & Lincolnshire

Rotary is a worldwide network of inspired individuals who translate their passions into relevant social causes to change lives in communities

In this edition...

Malcolm Wells and his four-legged friend from Canine Partners at our Scarborough Conference

DISTRICT 1270

Rotary offers the chance for young people to develop personal skills and a better awareness of problems that face the world today. This is a great opportunity to meet, work and have a great time with like-minded young people, guided and supported by Rotarians so please support all the District Competitions in 2014/15

Personal Copy for Rotarian and anyone seeking information about Rotary

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From the Editor

Welcome, fellow rotarians and friends, to this Autumn edition of the Link magazine and thanks to all those who have contributed articles and interesting snippets towards it.

Here is one such piece which throws a little more light on the origins of the Polio vaccine, thanks to the ubiquitous search engine Google.

28th October Google Doodle celebrates Dr. Jonas Salk

PolioPlus program was born, with a simple goal: to immunize every child under age 5 against this crippling disease. Thanks in large part to the initial success of PolioPlus, in 1988 the 166 member states of the World Health Assembly unanimously set the goal of global polio eradication.

At the time, the idea was breathtakingly ambitious, and many called it impossible. Today, we are closer to this goal than ever before, with only a few hundred cases of polio reported per year, and just three remaining endemic countries. We are on track to achieve full eradication by 2018 – if we can keep up the momentum that has brought us this far.

This month have marked World Polio Day and today celebrate the 100th anniversary of Dr. Salk’s birth. Rotarians have contributed $1.3 billion to the efforts to eradicate polio and many local Rotarians have traveled to endemic countries to participate in the massive immunization efforts whereby millions of children under the age of 5 received two drops of the polio vaccine.

Rotary and its partners will make history by eradicating Polio from the face of the Earth. We are this close.

Article first appeared on The Hanover Evening Sun, written by Charles L. Cenkner, Past District Governor, PolioPlus Chair, Rotary District 7390

ROTARY’S RESPONSE TO THE EBOLA OUTBREAK Rotary continues to follow the developments surrounding the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and advice of the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, our partners in international public health.

Strengthening the health infrastructure and supporting and sustaining the deployment of government health workers throughout these outbreak areas are greatly needed. Although Rotary has limited opportunities to respond at a corporate level, our strength as an organization is firmly rooted in the grassroots response of Rotary clubs and Rotarians.

Stephen Woodcock, our District 1270 International Project Officer has received the following statement from the RIBI International Committee.

This image comes from this day’s ‘Google Doodle’ which celebrates the 100th anniversary of Dr. Jonas Salk.

On the 28th October 1914, Jonas Salk was born – a man who would change world history by inventing the first effective vaccine against polio. When the vaccine was introduced in the United States in the 1950s, polls indicated that polio was one of the nation’s two greatest fears, second only to the fear of atomic war.

And with good reason: In the 1952 U.S. polio epidemic, 58,000 cases were reported, with 3,145 deaths and 21,269 instances of permanent, disabling paralysis. Globally, polio paralyzed or killed up to half a million people every year.

Soon after the Salk vaccine was created, Albert Sabin developed an oral version, allowing tremendous numbers of children to be immunized quickly, safely and inexpensively. In 1985, Rotary’s

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RIBI INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE STATEMENT

EBOLA

The World Health Organisation has stated that Ebola can be eradicated if the right steps are taken and sufficient funding is available. For example, Nigeria had an outbreak but with careful management the country has now been declared “Ebola Free”.

The DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) has now made a national appeal for funds to help fight this disease and made the following statement:The explosive spread of Ebola in West Africa is not just killing the infected but ripping apart health services, devastating communities, and destroying people’s ability to support themselves. More than 4500 people have died and over 10,000 have been infected by the Ebola virus. The outbreak is not only a health crisis, but also a humanitarian crisis with global dimensions.

Some Clubs are working with Rotary in the affected countries, but the charities involved with the DEC are desperate for the funding to help fight this disease on the ground by setting up Emergency Hospital facilities and training local people how to handle the situation.

Please consider supporting the DEC.

By the time you read this nearly a quarter of my year as Governor will be over and I am asking myself “Where has it gone?”

When I started out on my journey 3 years ago, the year 2014-15 seemed a lifetime away but it creeps up much faster than you can imagine. The training is intense and preparation time consuming. Handover comes and goes and then you are in the midst of meetings, events, club visits and charters.

With 47 clubs, we are a small district compared with most other districts in RIBI but the amount of service which you carry out is amazing. I know from your Club Assembly reports that you are all filled with enthusiasm and great ideas for making 2014-15 a successful and fun year and those clubs which I have visited already have demonstrated their commitment to Rotary service.

Being a member of a Rotary Club enables us to take part in fund raising activities, community, health and educational projects and youth programmes. It provides the opportunity to meet like minded friends both nationally and internationally who represent a vast cross section of the business and local community regardless of race, colour, creed, religion, gender or political preference.

Rotary is something very special, people meeting people, people helping people and having fun in doing good.

I look forward to visiting all our remaining clubs, speaking to as many of you as possible and where invited, being involved in your planned activities.

Wendy Watson DG 2014-15

RIBI President 2014/15 Peter King, President of RIBI 2014/15 is keen for Rotarians to light up the lives of young people in these islands this Rotary year: “The London 2012 Olympic Games demonstrated the value and importance of volunteering but little has been done subsequently to encourage it. Step Up To Serve is one such networking initiative but I would invite Rotarians to be at the forefront in encouraging young people to help local charities and organisations, so as to grow the sense of service. Such will restore, for some, dignity and a sense of worth and provide valuable life skills”.

“There are many ways in which local Rotarians can develop contacts with schools and local youth groups to help nurture in others our vision of peace, truth and mutual respect. We as an organisation have pledged to grow and develop more Rotakids and Interact clubs. The volunteer

Guidelines for Submissions to District Editor

of the present may become the Rotaractor and Rotarian of the future.”

“I have a great team of district governors. I hope that they and I can represent the interests of every Rotarian and club to promote service, co-operation and friendship throughout Great Britain & Ireland.

Vision, trust and effective communication will, I believe, grow and develop Rotary ideals in this green and pleasant land.”

A member of the Rotary Club of Kew Gardens since 1984, Peter has been club president twice. He has also held roles as international chairman, community and vocational chairman and extension officer.

As well as being an ambassador for youth opportunities, Peter also brings his passion for Rotary’s place in peacebuilding and conflict resolution to the role of RIBI President.

Peter King

RIBI President 2014-15

The RIBI pledge made in support of Step up to Serve.

“Rotary will open the door for young people to revive and rejuvenate communities, at home and overseas, with the formation of 125 new Interact clubs and 300 new Rotakids clubs by 2020.

Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland (RIBI) pledges to support Step Up To Serve by generating hundreds of opportunities for young people to transform communities and their lives with the creation of 125 new Interact clubs and 300 new Rotakids clubs by 2020. This will be achieved by working with schools and community groups.

RIBI will celebrate the inspirational successes of young people with the annual RIBI Young Citizen Awards, in association with the BBC News Channel. The five awards showcase and celebrate the positive citizenship and important responsibilities assumed by many young people under the age of 25 in these islands”

Articles and reports are welcomed from District Officers, Clubs and Rotarians and the editor will endeavour to publish all suitable items, subject to space being available. Currently, we aim to print 16 A4 pages in full colour per edition.

Major features will usually run to a full or half page. A page is composed typically of 800 words with 2 pics, 720 with 3 pics and 680 with 4 pics.

Club contributions should around 250 words in length with ideally a photograph to accompany the article. Where there are a number of photographs covering an event, the contributor should select the one to be used and send only that one.

Preferably, an article should be submitted as a Word file and contain the caption to the photograph if one is included and be emailed as an attachment. The photograph should be sent as a separate jpeg file.

Deadline for copy to the editor for the next edition is 12th February, 2015. john.stone@stoneprinters.co.uk

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Mentoring to Support New Members

District Handover 2014 The District Handover was held on Sunday, 29th June 2014 in lovely surroundings at Wentworth Castle Gardens in Stainborough.

Rotary District 1270

This is a brief introduction to the role mentoring can play in the successful integration of a new member into your club.

Mentoring

There was a good turn out of Rotarians from across the District to see the baton change from DG Simon Kalson to our new DG Wendy Watson.

Choose mentors who are committed to their role as an on-going Rotary resource and source of support for new members. Remember to consider: • Do they have a high level of knowledge and interest about the club and all aspects of Rotary?

• Are they willing and able to devote the time and energy necessary to help a new member fully participate in the club?

• What might they have in common with the new member (hobbies, interests, profession)?

Mentors can be assigned before or after induction. Your club will need to determine at what point mentoring should begin and for how long it should continue.

• Ensure that the new member has a working understanding of club rules

DG on Tour. . .

• Monitor the new members attendance • Be readily available to answer questions and provide advice and guidance if asked

Mentor’s Responsibilities • Monitor the new member’s comfort level and involvement through periodic personal meetings • Accompany the new member to club meetings/events on occasion

Next Steps...

• Devise a process for identifying enthusiastic club members who are interested as serving as mentors. Seek advice from your district trainer about briefing potential mentors • Consider how you will communicate opportunities for family involvement to new members

Wendy has been busy out and about around the District. Here are a few shots from her photo album.

Resources The RI website is a valuable source of information to help support a mentor programme (www.rotary.org).

Useful publications are:

• Introduce the new member to all other club members

•

New Member Orientation A How-to-Guide for Clubs

• Find out the new member’s interests and suggest project committees they may wish to be involved in

•

Club Assessment Tools A Companion Piece to the Membership Development Resource Guide.

• Inform the new member about special meetings and other events held throughout the year. Try to attend with them and act as an informal host to them and their family

(This includes a member’s satisfaction form).

July 22nd saw DG Wendy and Philip spend a day at the sea side along with many thousand holiday makers.

Wendy & Rotarian Ken Pickering (Mexborough) at Meadowhall

Wendy doing the Tour de France

Music in the Gardens

Enjoying the Proms

With the Lord Mayor of Sheffield & Mayor of Rotherham

Wendy at the Inner Wheel Rally

Wendy and Philip visited Gibraltar Point nature reserve to see the devastation left after the winter floods, the World War 1 BBC exhibition on Skegness seafront, the Rotary Club of Skegness Wishing well and the Rotary illumination.

A short journey further along the coast lead to a refreshing look at the wind farms in the wash basin and the work being undertaken to prevent coastal erosion. Butlins was next on the agenda, Billy Butlin being a founder member of the Rotary Club of Skegness now in its 80th year of service, followed by a tour of the thousands of caravans situated at the old sea bank sites. Both were amazed at the expanse of caravans.

It became very clear they were not going to enter into the true spirit of a day at the seaside when they refused to paddle in the sea, and declined a trip on either the donkeys, the roller coaster or the whirlitzer.

The visit concluded with an official visit to the Rotary Club of Skegness meeting where DG Wendy addressed the membership.

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Running in the Rain...

Dolly Parton

Imagination Launch in Grimsby 6th March 2014 “World Book Day”

Books from birth to 5: Youngsters’ delight as Dolly Parton Imagination Library launches in Grimsby CHILDREN in Grimsby will now have access to free books thanks to a new project inspired by American music legend Dolly Parton.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is an international project that looks to provide children with free books from birth up to the age of five.

It will now be accessible in Grimsby and Cleethorpes thanks to The Cleethorpes Rotary Club who, working alongside the Grimsby Institute, has implemented the venture in our area.

The first library, in partnership with the Institute’s Little Stars Day Nursery, was launched to coincide with World Book Day. Institute principal, Sue Middlehurst, said: “We are corporate members of Cleethorpes Rotary, so as a result we work in partnership with a lot of charitable events.

“They introduced us to this project and we were only too happy to get involved. It’s really fantastic.

“Most people believe in reading from a young age, and it’s a perfect time to launch the scheme on World Book Day.” The scheme is being run on a small scale to start with, so they will be looking to raise £30,000 from sponsors to keep it going in the long term.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library was originally launched in Dolly’s home town of Sevier County, Tennessee.

It fosters a love of reading among pre-school children by providing them with a free hardcover book every month, from birth to the age of five.

Currently, the Imagination Library has programmes in more than 1,800 communities in the UK, US and Canada, with 730,000 children under the age of five receiving books from the library each month.

The programme first began in 1996, and has seen more than 55 million books being donated to children since its launch.

Rolf Sperr, of the Cleethorpes Rotary Club, said: “It is hoped that through the library, every child regardless of language, cultural or economic differences, will develop a healthy love of reading.

“It is also to provide them with a proficient vocabulary so that they can begin school with the early literacy skills that are important for academic success.”

Rotary clubs and other community groups help make the programme work by promoting the programme, registering children with the library, and paying for the books.

Once a child is registered, the Dollywood Foundation takes over sending the child a new book every month.

Natalie Turnbull, regional director of The Dollywood Foundation, said they were delighted to bring the scheme to Grimsby.

She said: “Our main aim with this project is to provide a home library for children, to increase their enjoyment of reading and to spark the imagination of young children from birth.

“We already run this programme in Scunthorpe and we have already seen noticeable results.

“Dolly came up with the idea as she had no books when she was young. She was brought up with a poor background and didn’t read until she got to school.

For further information, visit www.imaginationlibrary.com and www.cleethorpesrotary.org

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Rotary Club of Hull - Humber Half Marathon and Fast Cat Fun Run June 29th 2014 This year was the fifteenth event organised by the Rotary Club of Hull in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Barton and assisted on the day by many volunteers and Rotarians from other local clubs.

The meetings for this event start in October of the previous year. We have committee members from our own Club, the Barton Club and also a strong contingent of non-rotarian members who add greatly to our skill set, a bit of a youth policy, potential Rotarians? They give us much needed support both before and on the day of the event.

The race is run over a unforgiving undulating route on public roads and is classed as one of the most challenging races available. Starting near to the Humber Bridge car park the route takes in parts of Hessle, along the carriageway of the iconic bridge, (by kind permission of the Humber Bridge Board) through to and around Barton, back up Gravel Pit Road, fondly known as ‘Cardiac Hill’, along back across the bridge and then arriving for a tumultuous welcome in the Humber Bridge car park. Contrary to popular belief the bridge is not flat, ask a runner. Throughout the route runners receive tremendous support in what has become a

Commitment to Rotary...

Cleethorpes Rotarian Rolf Sperr, has been personally thanked by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg for his commitment to Rotary. Mr Sperr was among 12 previously unsung Rotarian heroes who were honoured by some of Britain’s top politicians in Whitehall last week.

Presenting the first ever Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) Champions of Change Awards, Mr Clegg spoke of the “extraordinary things” which the award winners had done.

He was impressed by the variety of achievements of the 12 awardees.

Nominations for the awards were in two categories — domestic and international — and invited from across RIBI’s 29 Districts, which takes in 1,800 clubs and 50,000 members. They were also a celebration of the Centenary year of RIBI, which also saw its first woman President, Nan McCreadie.

She said: “We were delighted to receive support from Nick Clegg, who kindly offered his time to recognise the excellent work that the worthy volunteers undertake everyday; much of which is funded solely by the individuals, who work neither for money nor for recognition but to help causes that they are passionate about and believe in wholeheartedly.”

Awardees’ achievements included helping with health and education projects in Uganda, Kenya, India, Pakistan and Sumatra, caring for the poor around Bethlehem, and, nearer home, to enhancing facilities in local communities and spearheading the voluntary flood relief project in the Somerset Levels, The event at the Scotland Office was hosted by the Advocate General for Scotland Lord Wallace of Tankerness and was attended by the Under Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, MP Michael Moore as well as the Awardees respective MPs and the District Governors and representatives who had nominated them.

Local Awardee — Rolf Sperr – Rotary Club of Cleethorpes Rolf has been a shining example to Rotarians in District 1270 for many years. Apart from his leadership as DG in 2006-7, Rolf has served as a Regional Foundation Coordinator, District Foundation Chairman, International Chairman, Grants Officer, Webmaster & Social Media compiler, Foundation Audit Sub-committee Chairman, and served on most committees at some time. Rolf is committed to helping children in North East Lincolnshire learn to read from an early age and is an enthusiastic worker for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library project.

Rolf is always happy to mentor others, especially new Rotarians, and has a rare gift for explaining and informing rather than influencing.

This award is a testimony to a Rotarian who practices the Rotary ethics with enthusiasm.

yearly event for the population of Hessle and Barton, and runners The event started in monsoon conditions but on the day we had a record entry of 2100 in the Half Marathon and 267 in the Humber Fast Cat sponsored Fun Run. Runners for the half marathon come from all over the UK and one or two from abroad. The Fast Cat Fun Run proved to be an entertaining aside, with a competition to catch the “Fast Cat’. An extremely wet Fast Cat mascot was chased by fun runners to win the prize, great fun for all concerned. He was caught by an equally wet runner.

Both races were started by Hull boxer, Tommy (Boom Boom) Coyle and Zara Holland, Miss Hull and District. David Burns from BBC Radio Humberside also attended to interview celebrities.

Rosie Millard the recently appointed Chair of Hull City of Culture 2017 entered the race and was appropriately given the number 2017. The whole event went very well. The rain did eventually stop when we were clearing up after the event, some consolation! Ever seen a wet Rotarian, trying to rescue vehicles from a grass field carpark made into a bog caused by the rain, Rotarians have so many skills!!

At the south side of the Humber our Rotary friends from the Barton Club, led by PP John Leaning, yet again provided invaluable support as marshals, manning water stations etc, etc.

Their support for the event cannot be understated and is a perfect example of Clubs achieving great things by working together.

The event over the past 14 years has raised in excess of £300.000 for local and international charities and this year the Club hope to raise approximately £35,000. The figures do not take into account the amount raised by runners for their own charities which could double the amounts raised overall. The total amount raised by the event is divided between our main benefitting charity this year the HEY SMILE Foundation The foundation which as a charity works to support and develop other smaller charities. The partnership with SMILE this year has taken the event to a higher level in sourcing sponsors, main sponsor this year being Sargent Electrical, plus re- branding, re-vamped website, social media, etc. This has enabled the organising committee under the chairmanship of PP John Curry to concentrate on the actual organization of the event. The residue is allocated to our own club and the Rotary Club of Barton to enable us to support our own chosen charities and respond to disaster appeals.

Tommy Coyle and Zara Holland starting the race.

Rosie Millard with race number 2017

Running in the rain

We were wet and exhausted but we had a wonderful day, many thanks to all concerned. See you next year, 28th June 2015 PP Margaret Curry First four home with LandRover

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Scarborough Conference 2014 12th-14th September 2014, The Spa, Scarborough.

I hope that those of you who attended conference agree that we had a wonderful few days. We enjoyed 2 excellent evenings of good food, fellowship and great entertainment and were inspired by the exploits of Andy Cave, the emotional story of Craig Hammond, the super dogs of Canine Partners together with the Rotary Peace Project which Keith and Jean inspired us with and many more first class speakers.

I have received many many thanks and complement both for the speakers, the entertainment and House of Friendship exhibition. It has not been down to me – these thanks should be directed to the conference team: To Registration Officer Jack Cusworth, To Sergeant at Arms Peter Short and his team, To Front of Stage Manager Teresa Jackson, To Duncan Moffatt for organising the House of Friendship Exhibition and finally to Conference Chairman Terry Sykes - this conference could not and would not have happened had it not been for his hard work and superb organisation – we all owe him an immense debt of gratitude.

DG Wendy

Dear DG Wendy and PDG Terry After hectic travel, I landed in my hometown in India yesterday noon.

Sonia and I are overwhelmed with your kind hospitality for a week. I can say last week was one of the unforgettable moments of my Life.

RID 1270 District Conference was well organized and exceeded my expectations on all counts. I will be soon formally reporting to RI my positive (only) impressions about both of you.

I am sure RID 1270 under your able leadership will scale a Peak (Mount Everest in Andy’s words) in the year 2013-14.

Regards and Keep it up Deepak

(RI Representative)

Conference Comes & Goes

A Weekender’s Report As a District-Conference first-time attendee, I am delighted to share my conference-initiation experience with those who could not get to the 1270 30th Annual District Conference held in Scarborough 12-14th September 2014. I’ll start by saying anyone who didn’t get there missed an absolute treat!

From arriving in Scarborough right until leaving after Conference close on Sunday, I had an amazing time. I don’t know what I expected but it certainly surpassed anything I did expect, the whole event was well-planned and organised yet relaxed and fun; the programme well populated with appropriate, funny and particularly informative presentations, and the Scarborough Spa was a perfect venue.

Even the weather in Scarborough was kind! The Conference Chair, our own Terry Sykes and District Governor Wendy Watson impressively held the whole thing together in a seamless natural manner, enjoying easy but very funny banter between themselves and with the various speakers.

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Perhaps before I went I thought it might have been quite a heavy, serious programme. I couldn’t have been more wrong: despite some very sensitive and challenging subject matter, all of it typically close to the spirit of Rotary, each presenter was unfailingly grippingly interesting. On day 2, Craig Hammond held the audience’s attention and took us on quite an emotional journey - I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room following his delivery of his personal journey through overcoming a significant stammer –

and his development of the Rapids programme, this appropriately being followed by Jean Best and her Peace Project Programme.

Andy Cave shared his passion for mountain-climbing, accompanied by breathtakingly beautiful mountain shots; of course I had to buy his book I found him so inspiring, and I’ll not quickly forget seeing a Canine Partner Labrador pick up a credit card – thank-you Malcolm Wells. The Eric Knowles’ lunch was easily as entertaining as any professional comedy cabaret.

After lunch we participated in the Peace Project facilitated breakout session, which gave an enlightening example of productive facilitation and following a quick spruce up we were ready to meet for cocktails ahead of the black-tie dinner with entertainment from the fabulous Dave Challis Band who gave us a lovely evening and of course we stayed to dance until the end!

On the final day we had a succession of interesting and again very funny presentations, my highlight as well as John Porter’s Lifeboat presentation and films was the extremely funny Geoff MacKey – his video clips were exceptionally funny as was his interaction with Terry Sykes. RI President Representative Deepak gave a good address before Wendy closed the conference.

It is hard to capture the atmosphere of the conference here, you really had to be there, and I would like to personally congratulate the organisers on providing a superb, thoroughly enjoyable and memorable event.

Well done to all involved.

Marie Hoyle (Barnsley Rockley)

In early September we are wondering if it’s going to be successful – will it be well organised, run smoothly with a good programme?

From a personal viewpoint this one was the best I’ve attended in twenty outings - an ‘absolute cracker’.

The Friday night entertainment ‘mid life crisis’ were excellent and got everybody in a party mood (albeit it after an indifferent meal) and catered for all tastes.

On Saturday morning DG Wendy got conference underway, introducing RI president representative Dr. Deepak Shikarpur who gave us some very impressive statistics about his own district 3131 in India.

The speakers on Saturday, to my mind, were just about the best I have heard at any conference – thought provoking, inspirational, humbling and exciting – I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house when craig hammond had finished his presentation on battling and overcoming problems with stammering.

Malcolm Wells was a great favourite of mine (Canine Partners) and whilst he was very entertaining in showing just what expertly trained dogs can do to help the disabled he also proved you can never upstage an animal (no matter how disciplined they are).

After lunch (couldn’t attend the Eric Knowles event, which I understand was excellent) I went to the rotary peace breakout session with Jean & Keith Best, showing how a system of conflict resolution strategies can be adopted by youngsters in schools and local communities.

The Saturday evening DG’s Ball with entertainment by the Dave Challis Band (they really are very good) got us back in the party mood again – a super ending to the day.

On Sunday morning I was helping to man the foundation stand in the house of friendship so did

not see all the contributors up to the coffee break but understand they were, once again, excellent.

In the last session I was particularly impressed with John Porter from RNLI who gave us some impressive statistics on rescues and lives saved over the years – and the help rotary has given to their cause.

In 2015 conference will be in Harrogate, a great venue and something to look forward to, Carole Cameron gave us a `taster` of what to expect.

Finally Geoff Mackey appeared on the stage, throwing a number of comical insults at conference chair terry and proceeded to inject his motivational talk with hilarious film clips which had everyone in stitches.

Deepak then summed up conference, he was articulate, witty and an excellent RI Representative.

It was then up to DG Wendy to close conference – I think we all should acknowledge the work put in by her team, particularly PDG Terry in planning a superb three days in Scarborough.

Wendy, knowing you as I do, I’m certain your year in office will be as succesful as this conference.

Mike Holdstock Rotary club of hull paragon

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The Aquabox Story.

The Spirit of Aquabox Aquabox

Rotarians will be delighted to learn that Martha Collison who took part in the current series of the BBC’s The Great British Bake Off was 2012 winner of the East Berkshire Rotary Young Chef Competition.

is driven by its volunteers and financial supporters. Their enthusiasm and commitment remains as vital as it was in the small group that launched the charity over 20 years ago. It is this spirit which is ensuring that Aquabox remains a leading provider of clean water and other humanitarian aid to disasters around the World and gives us the motivation to go on building the organisation to meet the challenges of the future.

Yet we are also conscious of our long history and origins. You can read about these here, along with account of how Aquabox has developed over the years, constantly striving to make its work effective, efficient and just.

What better way to promote this competition in our area too (see back page for date)

Early Days

The Great British Bake Off - Martha!

Youngsters can now see the enormous benefits that can lead from participating in these events.

Wheelchairs for Africa Rotarians from within our district travel to Africa to deliver wheelchairs and meet local Rotarians and the British High Commissioner of Botswana

The immense need for wheelchairs in Africa remains. Many people of all ages including children are unable to leave the room where they live, becoming ‘forgotten’ citizens. Those that do leave their rooms have to crawl along the ground, pull themselves along on a skateboard or be carried by family or friends all the time.

This summer Rotarians from our district, at their own cost, have again travelled to Africa to deliver wheelchairs, changing people’s lives. Past District International Officer for district 1270 and a Grimsby Havelok Rotarian Chris Suich together with her husband Skegness Rotarian Bob Suich travelled to South Africa and Botswana with Rotarian Milton Frary, Trustee of the Rotary Wheelchair Foundation UK and his Rotarian wife Elaine.

In South Africa and Botswana they met a number of Rotary Clubs that are involved in the delivery of the wheelchairs. These were the White River Rotary Club and the Vanderbijlpark Rotary Club in South Africa. In Botswana they met the Gaborone Rotary Club, Francistown Rotary Club, and the Seleby-Phikwe Rotary Club. Also they met the British High Commissioner of Botswana who was very interested in the work the Rotary Clubs are doing in our District 1270 with Botswana clubs and wheelchairs. He has pledged support and furthermore has planned to visit the Rotary Club in Gaborone to discuss with them how best he can support the wheelchair projects.

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The wheelchairs, which have six different sizes ranging from children to large adult, are delivered by sea in containers to Durban in South Africa and then transported by road to the local Rotarians. In discussion with the local communities, they decide where to allocate them. This is a very difficult task as there are not enough wheelchairs.

Demand is many times greater than the supply.

Also newly knitted woollen jumpers, books, pens, pencils and footballs all donated by Rotarians and friends of Rotarians were given to local children at schools and community centres. *Chris Suich from Grimsby Havelok Rotary Club and Bob Suich of Skegness Rotary Club have been awarded the District Rotary International Award for 2013-14.

Aquabox was launched as a charity in 1992 by the Rotary Club of Wirksworth in Derbyshire, UK, with support from Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland and has retained that status to this day. Aquabox is one of the earliest of Rotary International (Britain and Ireland) box aid schemes.

It set out to provide safe drinking water and welfare aid items to communities affected by man- made and natural disasters and to areas affected by on-going deprivation. From an early stage there were two forms of Aquabox: boxes containing welfare aid to sustain families in the aftermath of disasters, including a water filter and chlorine purification tablets and boxes containing only water filters and purification tablets.

Packing was undertaken by volunteers from Wirksworth, including members of the Rotary Club of Wirksworth. In addition, empty boxes were dispatched to volunteers in other Rotary Clubs, Inner Wheel Clubs, schools, colleges, churches and youth organisations around the UK and Ireland and they purchased and packed the contents. Aquabox then arranged for the filled boxes to be transported and distributed by reputable aid agencies already established and trusted in disaster effected regions.

Funding was sought through donations and sponsorship of boxes by Rotary Clubs and other organisations. Our supporters have been strongly motivated by this direct involvement in the provision of aid and funding and the number of boxes distributed to disaster areas has grown strongly as shown in the graph below.

In 2013 we celebrated the achievement of dispatching 100,000 boxes with an estimated total current value of £12.5million to over 50 countries around the World.

Cumulative Growth of Aquaboxes in Response to Disasters Since Inception

Countries in Receipt of Aquaboxes Responses to Disasters The disasters that Aquabox has responded to exceed fifty. The magnificent efforts of our volunteers in responding to these disasters are exemplified by our response to the Tsunami that affected the West coast of India and Sri Lanka on Boxing Day in 2004.

With support from clubs within Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland we received thousands of pounds worth of donations in a 3 month period following the disaster. We packed and shipped hundreds Aquaboxes, which were capable of producing over millions of litres of clean water as well as providing materials to allow recipients to build temporary shelters and sustain themselves

in the period which followed the disaster.

This required massive contributions from our volunteers around the country which were typified at the Wirksworth depot where we had teams of up to 20 working every day for 2 months when demand for boxes was at its highest. The disaster in the Philippines in December 2013 evoked a similar response with hundreds of boxes being air freighted or shipped to the affected area.

Facilities Aquabox started its operations in stables attached to a guest house near Wirksworth. Lack of space meant that boxes had to be stored and packed outside. We now operate from 4 modern warehouse units on the outskirts of Wirksworth with 300sq m of space for storage and packing of boxes and the assembly of AquaFilter Family units.

We now have volunteer shifts working in the depot every morning (8.30 – 11.00 am) of the week, except Wednesday and Sunday.

Visitors are always welcome, though we would welcome by prior arrangement for parties of more than three people.

Recent Changes to Products and Methods of Operation As part of a strategy of continuous improvement and to more effectively meet the demands on Aquabox from disaster areas around the globe, major changes were made to the products we supply and the way that we operate in 2012.

We introduced the new Aquafilter Family Filter units based on membrane filter technology to replace the former charcoal filters.

These AquaFilters have been developed by John Griffiths of the Safe Water Trust with support from engineers in Aquabox. They are a great improvement on the old system producing instant safe drinking water and having a much greater lifespan and capacity. The filters are assembled by a team of volunteers in our premises in Wirksworth. AquaFilter Family units are now supplied in every box. In addition, we are now distributing AquaFilter Community units, developed, manufactured and supplied by the Safe Water Trust. These have a much larger capacity and, as the name implies, they have been designed to support small communities such as schools, local hospitals and small villages.

In 2012 the decision was taken to offer only Aquabox Golds, which are full of new goods purchased in bulk at discounted prices and also to discontinue the practice of sending boxes to our supporters to pack (with limited exceptions).

Both measures were introduced to ensure a consistent standard of contents and quality.

The decision to undertake most of the packing in-house was only taken after a lot of deliberation by the Trustees and consultation with all our volunteers because we knew that many of you found the system of filling boxes to be a very satisfying way of supporting charitable work and we fully appreciated the wonderful community involvement that some groups had been able to develop with schools, churches and other local organisations.

Aquabox welcomes, and works to increase levels of direct financial donations or by organising fundraising activities.

Gains From the Developments Aquabox has Made There have been a number of gains from making these changes: Our Gold boxes are standardised and of reliable high quality. Whilst most people filled boxes to a high standard, a significant number of boxes were returned with many items missing and they had to be repacked by our volunteers.

By buying new items for boxes we are able to maintain consistent quality standards.

The cost of sending out boxes for filling was becoming prohibitive.

Customs officers both in this country and abroad have become far more careful about what they will allow onto aeroplanes and into their countries. For every consignment that we send, a representative of our charity has to sign a manifest which confirms the contents of every box. With boxes filled by external volunteers, it was difficult to fulfil this requirement and Aquabox was at risk as a result.

Due to the high cost of production of the AquaFilter Family units, we were reluctant to send them out in boxes to be filled because of the potential for damage to the units during transportation.

The numbers of clubs/organisations ordering boxes to fill has been gradually falling over the past few years and more and more have been changing to financial support.

We have been really pleased with the positive responses to these changes and, particularly to the increased levels of financial support that we have received recently.

Looking forwards, we recognise that a number of organisations have been consistently filling a large number of boxes each year to a high standard. We believe that these can become satellite stations for the packing of Gold boxes and the assembly of Aquafilter Family units (or components) with support from the Aquabox depot here in Derbyshire. We are working with a number of groups currently to develop this as a way of boosting our production whilst still maintaining quality standards.

The concept of global satellite stations is already well established. Aquabox in the UK has supported the development of independent Aquabox charities in Canada and Australia, which were established by Rotary Club of Stratford, District and Rotary Club of Eltham, District 9790, respectively. We look forward to our close collaboration continuing in the future.

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Club News Abbeydale Twinning Schools in Albania On my latest trip to Albania in May, I gave presentations to schools on inclusive education.

One school is to twin electronically to a school in Chesterfield. This is being done with the governors’ of that school and the head teacher, parents also are participating. We hope that this will give support to the staff and children in Albania, who work under very difficult circumstances There are other schools there who would like to twin. Do we have Rotary members who are governors who may be able to seek the cooperation of their school? It needs to be done officially like this rather than casually.

If anyone has any interested contacts I would be willing to contact them and discuss possibilities.

Ann Norris annnorris2@tiscali.co.uk

Barton Help For South Ferriby Flood Victims

Barton War Memorial Because of the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, Barton Rotary Club members cleaned around Barton War Memorial on Barrow Road, weeding between the paving blocks and generally sweeping away leaves and other vegetation.

Continuing to help the flood victims of South Ferriby, Barton Rotary Club has donated white goods to the value of £1,600 to help the families who are returning to their homes.

A spokesman said “ We were approached by a Three Chest Freezers, a Fridge Freezer, Cooker, a Barrow Road resident, who had made a start Washing Machine and a Tumble Dryer have been clearing the large amount of weeds. It really was in donated to South Ferriby Parish Council. a bad state. Rotary Club members thought that the work should be done out of respect for the many Roy Holloway, Chairman of the Council said “ We are very grateful to Barton Rotary Club for again Barton men and women whose names are on the stepping in to help. It really makes a difference to memorial and the possibility of members of their the families concerned. Back in December, Rotary families visiting the site on the anniversary”. were called in to the Village Hall to sort the big quantity of cleaning goods and clothes that had been donated and it is good to have this continuing support. 80% of the families have moved, or are in the process of moving back into their properties” Local firm, Lindsey Relay - Euronics, of Barton delivered the goods and did not make a charge for installation and delivery. Director, Paul Vickers commented “We are very proud to be asked by Barton Rotary Club to make life a bit easier for these people. We were also involved during the flooding, using one of our vans to help move villager’s belongings” Immediate Past President of Barton Rotary Club, John Fagge, said “It seems a long time since the flooding last December and we knew that most of ourWild help would needed when people returned to Colman sold bucket loads of raffle tickets Julie andbeMinder/Enforcer Martin their houses. We hope that it shows that somebody making £500.00+, sadly none of my numbers was a winner, ce la vie! does care”.

Cleethorpes

Walk in the Park 2014

Sunday 3rd August saw the 5th annual ‘Walk

President Tony thanked Tony and Jackie for hosting lunch and said that in the Park’ for the the North East Lincolnshire approximately £3,000+ had been made on aDisability quickSports countForum, up. the event is organised by

Barnsley Rotary Charity Summer Lunch Sunday 27th July 2014

Then it was time for the big clean up but what a wonderful afternoon had been had by ‘The Walk’ is a designed to promote awareness all, excellent food, good company, wonderful surroundings, in short, a great of disabilities and the work of the Forum in success.

After the cancellation of the Classic Car Rally, Janice Wooffindin Barnsley Rotary’s main money raising event, Tony and Jackie Hellewell very kindly offered their beautiful home and gardens for the Charity Summer Lunch.

To host a lunch for 120+ people takes a lot of organisation and work to make it a success, fortunately Jackie and Tony have done this quite a few times over the years; they marshalled their committee with Jackie being at the helm and she steered us with aplomb.

Many members and friends arrived at various times during the week answering the call for tables and chairs and on counting there was a chair for each person attending.

On the day, it threatened to rain late morning – it wouldn’t dare – Jackie has a reputation for having and quality of food available. Our ladies were good weather at her garden parties and so the day marshalling guests through and filling up gaps with turned out dry and warm of course. replacement food when they appeared.

A couple of hours before the first guest was due Puddings were then put out, everyone who had the house was a hive of industry with ladies arriving made a pudding had done Rotary and themselves thick and fast with loads of different salads; proud; one gentleman said how lovely it was to see tomatoes and onions were chopped, dozens of so many wonderful home made puddings available. eggs had been hard boiled, salmon had been Julie Wild and Minder/Enforcer Martin Colman sold cooked and dressed and everything displayed bucket loads of raffle tickets making £500.00+, beautifully to perfection. sadly none of my numbers was a winner, ce la vie!

Outside, tables and chairs had been wiped and President Tony thanked Tony and Jackie for hosting arranged around the garden, the bar was erected, the lunch and said that approximately £3,000+ stocked and manned. had been made on a quick count up. Then it was The first guests began to arrive and were presented time for the big clean up but what a wonderful with a glass of Bucks Fizz to start the event off, an afternoon had been had by all, excellent food, excellent start to the afternoon. good company, wonderful surroundings, in short, a great success.

When the buffet was served, everyone seemed to be very impressed indeed with the size , variety Janice Wooffindin

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Cleethorpes Rotary Club who provided a BBQ for the participants and their carers after the event.

encouraging its members to participate in competitive sports within each person’s individual ability. Recent successes have seen members from the Forum represent Britain in the Olympic Games and Commonwealth games in Wheelchair and Table Tennis events.

Doncaster St Leger

Howden

Annual Special Schools Concert

Presenting cheque to Marie Curie

The annual Special Schools Concert took place at the White Church in Balby on 2nd July organised by Karen Latimer of the Doncaster Music Education Hub.

On Sunday 27th July Howden Rotary Club Past President Christine Dagwell Thompson presented Pauline Hornsey, Chairperson of the Goole/ Howdenshire and District Volunteer Fundraising Group for Marie Curie Cancer Care, with a cheque for £2,000.“This donation is made from monies that were raised at this year’s Golf Am Am and Sportsman’s dinner” advised Christine “and the Club is delighted to support the amazing work undertaken by Marie Curie”

Their nine Marie Curie Hospices across the UK provide expert care and the best quality of life for people with terminal illnesses.

Marie Curie are the biggest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS, and are expanding outpatient and day services at all the hospices which reached 7,897 people in 2012-13.

There are Marie Curie Hospices in Belfast, Bradford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hampstead (London), Liverpool, Newcastle, Penarth (near Cardiff) and Solihull.

For more information go to www.mariecurie.org.uk

“We are extremely grateful to Howden Rotary for this donation and their continued support” said Pauline “which is contributing to the success of the district in maintaining the work done by the charity”

Children from five schools took part – Heatherwood, Coppice, Stone Hill, Pennine View and North Ridge Community. Each school sang two songs and all the schools combined for the opening and closing of the concert. The event was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Doncaster St Leger and Vice President, Angela Hartley, presented each school with a trophy to mark a brilliant concert brimming with energy and enthusiasm.

Marie Curie Cancer Care is a UK charity dedicated to the care of people with terminal illnesses, in 2012-13 they cared for 38,777 people.

The charity is best known for their network of 2,000 Marie Curie Nurses, who work in the homes of terminally ill patients across the UK, providing practical care and support.

During 2012-13, their nurses provided more than 1.3 million hours of nursing to 30,080 patients, along with support for their families.

Dictionary4life Project

Sir John Armitt CBE

The Rotary Club of Doncaster St Leger has contributed once again to the Dictionary4Life project, helping to promote literacy by donating copies of the Usborne Illustrated Dictionary to local schools. Rotary nationally has donated some 200,000 dictionaries to primary schools over the last 3 years.

The former Network Rail Boss and Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority was the Guest Speaker at the annual Charter Dinner of the Rotary Club of Doncaster St Leger at the Earl of Doncaster Hotel on the 8th October 2014. Sir John gave an illustrated lecture about his role as Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, a position which he will hold until the ODA is wound up. Questions and discussion followed. Sir John has close links with the club having hosted a visit to the Olympic Park for its members in 2011 and participated in Club Battlefields trips in more recent years. He was made an Honorary Member at the meeting for his support and contribution to Rotary ideals.

This year our President Elect, Jack Cusworth, presented 30 dictionaries to Barnby Dun Primary Academy on Tuesday, 16th September during their assembly.

By using dictionaries efficiently children explore spellings, meanings and derivations for example by using alphabetical order, abbreviations and definitions with understanding. One of the most positive aspects of being able to use a dictionary is that it helps to develop autonomy and confidence – one of the core goals of education.

Picture shows Pauline Hornsey (left) receiving the cheque from Christine Dagwell Thompson (right)

SPONSORED CYCLE RIDE On Sunday 21st September 2014, 74 cyclists took part in the Howden Rotarian’s annual cycle ride from Laxton village hall and they succeeded in raising in the region of £3,000 for their chosen charities.

The courageous cyclists completed either a 20, 7 or 5 mile course in order to achieve their goal and some twenty charities will benefit from their hard work.

“We are delighted to have had so many cyclists participating and were pleased to see such a wide range of diverse charities benefitting” said Howden Rotary Club President Richard Longthorp OBE “furthermore two of the projects raising the most, Howden Working Men’s Club (disabled toilet fund) and Howden Pre-School, are ones where Howden Rotary Club is providing match funding in accordance with the club’s policy of assisting those who are willing help themselves”

The Chairman of the Forum is Colin Woodford who is currently World Cerebral Palsy World Table Tennis Champion and also the Division 1 Champion in the local able bodied Table Tennis League.

The Forum has over 150 members who represent a full spectrum of disabilities and are regular competitors in both the District and National Disability Games, a significant number have been major contributors in enabling District 1270 to win the National Team Champion title in recent years.

The event was on outstanding event and highlighted Rotary’s support within the community for all people regardless of ability and disability.

Picture shows Sir John receiving his Honorary Member badge from President Dr Lis Rodgers.

Hull The Special Olympics Swimming Gala 8th March 2014

This competition is for young adults with a learning disability. We have sponsored this event for the past eleven years and fund the ferry passage for a team from the Netherlands to participate with twelve other teams from our area.

The visiting team are accompanied by Corrie de Winter from the Rotary Club of Botleck ,they are met at the ferry and taken for breakfast and to the bowling alley before the main event of the day.

The event is held at Beverley Leisure Complex with many of our Rotarians acting as time keepers for

the races, medals are given to all winners and the event is started with the Special Olympics oath given by a City of Hull competitor ‘let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt’

Picture: Howden Pre-School. Back row (L to R) - Sally, Rich and Alex (Blee), Harry, Nicola and John Bray, Libby and James Preston, Steve and Erin Sylvester.

Front Row - (L to R) - Lewis Townsley, Kitty Pickering, Izobel Townsley, Sophie Blee, Holly Preston and Ellie Bray

Howden Rotary would like to thank all those who participated and helped create such a wonderful atmosphere, and look forward to seeing you at next year’s ride.

Other charities/causes benefitting were

We are the Champions - The visiting team from Botleck

The Ashes Playing Field, Blind Veterans, Cancer Research, NSPCC, Children’s Society, Dorothy House, Help for Heroes, Howden AFC U18, Howden Guides, Howden Orchestra, Jerry Green’s Dog Reserve, Marie Curie, Mires Beck Nursery, MS, Prostate Cancer, Woodhead Mount

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Howden Continued On Sunday 29th June members of the Rotary Club of Howden greeted the riders from the Rotary Club of Beverley on the fifth and final leg of a series of fund raising rides around East and North Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. The rides have been organised by the Beverley Club to raise funds for Beverley charity Real Aid to launch their Crisis Box initiative to help future victims of flooding.

With flooding now a real and ever increasing threat across the country, Real Aid, using experience gained during the floods of 2007 and subsequently, has developed the simple yet innovative Crisis Box, containing everything victims need to get their homes clean and safe after the flood water has gone.

Crisis Boxes will be held at Real Aid’s warehouse in Beverley together with a bank of essential equipment available on loan: dehumidifiers, jet washers, counter top cookers and fridges, enabling homeowners to get back to normal as quickly as possible. Delivery to an affected area will be handled by Real Aid using their transport.

Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland has already provided a grant from its Flood Relief Fund to get the scheme off the ground but further funding is still needed for ongoing costs. The cycle ride aims to help with these costs through sponsorship and donations and to publicise the scheme more widely.

Concert Collabro earlier this year won the TV ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ Show and are shortly due to appear at the Royal Variety Show in front of Her Majesty the Queen, followed by a country wide tour later this year. They have recently released their first album ‘Stars’ which went to the top of the charts. They are Michael Auger, Richard Hadfield, Thomas J Redgrave, Matthew Pagan and Jamie Lambert.

The Rotary Club of Louth were fortunate enough to obtain the Group to give this charity concert before their tour, and it took place in the magnificent setting of St James Church, Louth. One of the team, Thomas J Redgrave, grew up there as a chorister in his youth, having been born in the town. They enthralled the packed audience with the power and quality of their singing and they received rapturous standing applause.

The Coggle twins, Rosie and Lucy, provided a wonderful start to the evening with their versatile performance of of airs, songs and high energy jigs and reels. They grew up near Louth and are now based in Newcastle Upon Tyne where they both completed Folk and Traditional Music degrees.

All the profits will go to local and international charities through the Rotary Club of Louth.

Visit to ‘New Tribes Mission’ College.

Pictured is President Richard of the Howden Club along with riders from Beverley, left to right are Richard Longthorp OBE, Jack Cutting, Mark McMullen, Rob Cutting, Peter Delaney, Charlie Cutting and Polly Cutting.

Humberside The Rotary Club of Humberside has received a prestigious award for the introduction of a music bursary scheme to help talented young musicians develop their skills.

In association with the Hull Music Service, the Club is giving grants worth up to £1,000 over five years to children at schools across the City. The young musicians are able to apply for the grants in order to receive extra tuition to develop their talents. So far more than £12,000 has been raised through sponsorship and concerts.

Now the Club has received an award from Immediate Past District Governor, Simon Kalson, for the best new event of the year introduced among the clubs in District 1270.

Already seven awards have been made and more will follow in the near future.

Paul Lees, chairman of the Rotary Club’s Major Events Committee said; “This is the first time we have received such an award. The bursary scheme has been praised in many areas and without it some of those who receive money would not been able to develop their talents.

“We have already arranged further concerts – in November this year and March next year – in order to raise more money for the scheme which it is planned should continue for many years to come.

We have received the backing of many businesses and charities in and around Hull who have been more than willing to give us their support”.

The next fund raising concert will be on Saturday 29th November at the Albermarle Centre in Hull which will feature the East Yorkshire Motor Services Brass Band and the City of Hull Youth Brass Band.

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Listed here is something Rotarians might find interesting from the Exchange Ideas section of the Rotary International web site Community Market Place section which features solutions made for Rotarians by Rotarians. It’s a web site called matchinggrants.org which features over 300 global grant projects which clubs are invited to become involved with.

Louth

One of the aims of the Rotary Club of Louth it to get to know people in all walks of life who work and serve both in the local and world community, as so often we do not know what is happening ‘on our own doorstep’. Having recently had a Club talk from the principal of the ‘New Tribes Mission College’ located at the remote Lincolnshire coastal community of North Coates, they went out for their Club meeting in July to join the staff for an evening barbeque to find out more.

Down a long country road they found that in 1997 the United Kingdom branch of the Mission, which is world wide, had bought the disused military base, first formed as an aerodrome in the First World War and which had played an important part in the WW2. Using their own Mission staff, who are all volunteers, most of the buildings and the very extensive grounds had been restored into a unique residential training establishment, with the whole site maintained to an immaculate high standard.

On the campus they regularly trained about 62 young adults annually in Bible Studies and CrossCulture Communications to equip them in Christian evangelism and church planting among unreached people groups. Some of the students then go onto to a course on Applied Linguistics so that they can then work on translating the Bible, and hence the Christian Gospel, for giving to the tribes who are so isolated that they have their own unique cultures and languages. The printed texts are then taken by some of former students, often using the Mission’s own small aircraft, to almost inaccessible locations and tribes in such continents at Africa, South America, Indonesia and the Caribbean.

Everyone studies and works voluntary on the site and the whole international organisation is supported financially by gifts from Churches and individuals in many countries and from a wide range of denominations. The aim of the Mission is through giving these people the Bible, in a language they can understand, it will make a difference and change their lives. Often they have so undeveloped cultures and violent beliefs that their lives are lived in fear and stress with no knowledge of the love of a God who is their maker.

This visit to see this international work being developed and sustained in our midst certainly gave the Club members much food for thought.

Market Rasen During the early summer of 2014 the RC of Market Rasen confirmed that it would revert to being a predominantly lunch time meeting club, as historically it always had been. A trial period of approaching two years, confirmed that attendances were higher at our lunch meetings than evening, whether held ‘twilight’ or midevening. A democratic and secret vote was held, and the decision made! Occasional breakfast meetings usually got a good attendance, but problems in the winter would preclude these as a year round option, and inviting speakers was not as practicable. So 12.15 pm for 12.30pm is the time should you wish to visit. (Please still check dates/ times as occasional evening meetings with our ladies are held). We lost two members, as a result.

One member immediately transferred to a nearby evening club, the other has yet to commit, despite there being several evening meeting options in our local area.

The summer saw a visit by the two pupils we sponsored from De Aston school to attend the RYLA course at Castleton. Their reports, well presented, were full of enthusiasm and gratitude, the course enabling them to realise their own skills and helping clarify their plans for the future.

With thanks to a lot of keen golfers, from our own and neighbouring Rotary and Golf clubs, £2,500 was raised in July for the Lincolnshire/ Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance. We hope to visit the Ambucopter and its team, during the Autumn to present the cheque, and to show our gratitude for the excellent service they give.

In early August, with the threat of poor weather, Market Rasen Rotary Club organised and ran their annual ‘Open Gardens’ and gardener’s market, coupled with Stroke awareness blood pressure testing and an Art show and sale in the Festival Hall. The club funds benefitted by £1,500.00 but as importantly, several other organisations were given the opportunity to raise considerable funds for their own favoured charities. Several visitors tested for BP, were advised by the volunteer local practise nurses to make an appointment with the surgery.

(The Editor has no knowledge of the following post other than the information published below so please do your own research if taking up initiatives from it’s listings.)

matchinggrants.org

HERE IS AN EX AMPLE OF ONE PROJECT ON THE BOARD

The goal of matchinggrants.org is to facilitate communications between Rotarians looking for projects to finance, and Rotarians looking to finance their local projects. Submitting a project on this site will not submit it to The Rotary Foundation.

Once they’ve agreed to undertake a project, partners must submit a grant application to The Rotary Foundation.

This website is a private Rotary initiative, and is not underwriten by the Rotary Foundation in Evanston. The goal of this website is to facilitate communications between Rotarians looking for projects to finance, and Rotarians looking to finance their local projects. Submitting a project on this site will not submit it to The Rotary Foundation.

The project partners will have to follow the approval process with The Rotary Foundation once they have agreed to undertake a project through this website.

The projects on this site have originally been collected during a GSE trip from District 5340 (San Diego) to District 9200 (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania) in April 2001.

This team was exemplary in its focus and mission to identify potential service projects. The team leader was Rotarian Bob James from the La Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club. The team members were Elena De La Rosa, Timothy Kelley, Lori Killpatrick, Michelle Patterson, Julia Stevenson. Rotarian Philippe Lamoise from the Torrey Pines (La Jolla) Rotary Club went with the team to film and document the projects.

This was an univocational team of teachers, so the service projects were originally for schools, but there are also some other projects in different domains.

Since then, projects from other locations have been added, and the site is now interactive, allowing Rotarians from all over the world to submit projects, and allowing some other Rotarians to pledge to participate to an existing project.

Finally, and something completely new for the RC of Market Rasen, early September saw the running of a model railway exhibition in the local Festival Hall. The town Mayor thanked the club for organising yet another function to benefit the local community. Some 400 visitors attended, to see the numerous rail layouts, buy the equipment on offer, and to see the skills of the model makers.

Likely to become an annual event, the organiser, our President Elect, Rotarian Keith Patrick was very pleased with the turnout of Rotarians to prepare for, to steward on the day, and to clear away. A truly club wide event.

DIY Spectacles The Joy of Clear Sight The Clinic in Kinshasa

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Who We Are...

Our District is part of the Rotary International global network of more than 34,000 clubs and 1.2 million members worldwide.

We form a worldwide network of business, professional, and community leaders who volunteer their time and talents to serve communities locally and internationally - and form strong, lasting friendships in the process. Put simply, we are inspired individuals who translate their passions into relevant social causes to change lives in communities – we work to a common goal, Service Above Self. But most importantly, we have fun doing so!!

Rotarians focus their efforts at home & abroad on projects in six areas of focus: • Peace and conflict prevention/resolution • Disease prevention and treatment • Water and sanitation • Maternal and child health • Education and literacy • Economic and community development Our work with Young People is a particular strength and our Rotarians bring their Vocational skills to bear in helping with reading, interview skills and many other areas in schools. In addition our clubs support nine Rotaract clubs for young people aged 18-30, 20 Interact Clubs for those aged 12-18 and a number of RotaKid Clubs for younger children.

In 1985, Rotary initiated the End Polio Now campaign - now the largest global public/private partnership working to eradicate polio, we are now working on the final Endgame with eradication in sight by 2018.

Contrary to popular stereotype our members, women and men, span the generations, with members in their 20s through to their 90s. Age is no barrier, all that is needed is a willingness to put others first.If you would like to increase your business/social network and have fun whilst helping to create a better world, please contact: membership@rotary1270.org

Clubs in this district South Cave and Wolds (e)

Beverley (e) Holderness (e)

Howden (e)

District 1280

Diary Date Young Chef District Final January 10th 2015 at the

Grimsby Institute

Goole (e)

District 1040

Rotary District 1270 Key: (e) Evening Club

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ridge ber B Hum

Hornsea and East Riding (e)

Barrow Meridian (e) Barton Upon Mouth of (e) Humber Humber Grimsby Thorne Scunthorpe (e) Spurn Head Barnsley (e) Grimsby St. James (e) Scunthorpe Pentagon Barnsley Grimsby Doncaster (e) Brigg Rockley (e) Havelok Cleethorpes (e) (e) Wombwell Mex Doncaster Epworth & The Isle (e) borough St. Leger (e) of Axholme (e) Wortley (e) (e) Gainsborough Rotherham Market Rasen (e) Louth (e) Rotherham District 1220 Sitwell (e) Abbeydale Alford & Sheffield (e) Mablethorpe (e) Sheffield Vulcan (e) Lincoln (e) Horncastle (e) Bailgate Lincoln (e) Spilsby (e) Lindum Lincoln (e) Skegness (e) Lincoln Colonia (e) Woodhall Spa (e)

Doncaster St. George’s (e) Stainborough (e)

Humberside

Hull (e) Hull Kingston (e) Hull Paragon (e)